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Toward a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

Author(s): Jean Baudrillard, Carl R. Lovitt and Denise Klopsch


Source: SubStance, Vol. 5, No. 15, Socio-Criticism (1976), pp. 111-116
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3684064
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Towarda Critiqueof thePoliticalEconomyof theSign*

JeanBaudrillard

Justas the critiqueof politicaleconomyset foritselfthe taskof analyzingthe


commodity-form, the Critiqueof thepoliticaleconomyof thesignintendsto do so of
thesign-form.
As the commodityis both exchangevalue and use value-requiringthata total
analysisof this formconsiderboth slopes of the system-so too is the signboth
(Sr) and signified
signifier (Sd); theanalysisof thesign-form musttherefore proceedat
both levels. Of course,thissimultaneously requiresa logicaland strategicanalysisof
therelationship betweenthetwo terms,namely;
1) Between the EV systemand the UV system(or betweencommodity-form and
object-form), whichwe endeavoredto do in theprecedingarticle*:
2) Betweenthe systemof the Sr and thatof the Sd (or betweentherespective codes
whichdefinethearticulation of thesign-value and of thesign-form).
This relationship setsitselfup in bothcases as an hierarchicalfunction betweena
dominantformand an alibi form,or satelliteform,the latterbeingboth the logical
crowning and ideologicalfulfillment of the former.

of Ideology1
I. TheMagicalThinking

This homologous structuring of values in what are commonlycalled the


economic fieldand the fieldof signification has the effectof displacingthe entire
ideologicalprocessand of restating it in radicallydifferent terms.This processis no
longerbased on an infra/superstructural relationbetweenmaterialproduction(system
and relationsof production)and a productionof signs(culture,etc.) whichwould
emergeto expressand maskits contradictions. All thatis henceforthincluded,with
the same degree of objectivity,in the general political economy(of its critique),
penetratedthroughout by thesameformand governedby thesamelogic.
One must recall that, beyond the desperate gymnasticswhich it entails
("superstructural", "dialectical", "structuralwith dominant",etc.), the traditional
view of ideology with its artificialdistinctionbetween the "economic" and the
"ideological" also entailsthe impossibility of graspingthe "ideological"functionof
culture and of signs,which have thus been isolated,except at the level of the
signifieds.
The ideology(of such or such a group,of therulingclass) invariably consistsof
great themes, great contents,great values (nation, morality,family,humanism,
happiness, consumption) whose allegorical power comes to play, in some
undetermined fashion,on consciousnesses in orderto integratethem.Thoughtcontents
come to play upon real situations,and, on the whole, ideologyis definedas the
backlashof cultureon theeconomy.
Whereasit is clearthatideologyis thatveryformwhichrunsthrough"material"
productionas well as the productionof signs-or ratherthe logical divisionof this
formintotwo terms:

Sub-StanceNo. 15 111

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112 JeanBaudrillard

EV UV
Sr Sd

-a strategic,functionaldivisionthroughwhichtheformreproducesitself.This means
that ideology is already entirelywithinthe relationof EV to UV, i.e., is already
entirelywithinthelogicof thecommodity,justas it is containedin therelationof the
Sr to theSd, i.e., withinthelogicinternalto thesign.
Marx showed that the objectivityof materialproductionresided not in its
materialitybut in itsform.This constitutesthe startingpoint of any criticaltheory.
Ideologycalls forthe same analyticalreduction:its objectivitydoes not residein its
"ideality",i.e., in a realiticmetaphysicsof thoughtcontentsbut in its form.
The "critique" of ideology(includingthe Marxistcritique)feedson a kindof
magicalthinkingwhichdoes not decipherideologyas formbut as content,as given
transcendental value-a sortof mana fastening on to a fewgreatrepresentationswhich
magicallyimpregnate floatingand mystified knownas "consciousnesses".
subjectivities
Just as "need" is given as the relation between an "object's usefulness"and a
"subject's demand", ideologyappears as the relationbetweenthe projectionof a
consciousnessand theidealityof an ... idea, or of a value.The samemagicalfootbridge
is strungbetween artificial,even metaphysical,concepts,transposedfrommaterial
goodsto valuesand collectiverepresentations.2
Indeed,ideologyis theentireprocessby whichsymbolicmaterialis reducedand
abstractedinto a form-butthisreductiveabstraction presentsitselfimmediatelyas an
(autonomous) value, as a (transcendental)content,as a (signified)representation of
consciousness.It is thissameprocesswhichletsan autonomousvalue,a transcendental
realitybe read into the commodity, throughthemisrecognition of itsformand of the
abstractionof social labor which it effects.Cultureis thusdefinedin bourgeois(or
Marxist,alas!) thoughtas a transcendance of contents,correlated withconsciousness
by "representation", circulatingbetweenthem as positivevalues,in much the same
way as the fetishizedcommodityappearsas an immediatereal value,correlatedwith
subjects through"need" and use value, and circulatingaccordingto the rulesof
exchangevalue.
The cunningof formis to continuallyveilitselfbehindtheevidenceof contents.
The cunningof thecode is to veilitselfbehindand to produceitselfin theevidenceof
value. It is in the "materiality" of the contentthatthe formconsumesits abstraction
and reproducesitselfas formof the content.This is its own magic: to play on the
productionof both contentsand the consciousnesseswhich receivethem (just as
productionproducesboth productsand theircorresponding "needs")-therebysetting
culturein a dual transcendance of values(of contents)and of consciousnesses,and in
the metaphysicsof an exchangebetweenthe two terms.And while the bourgeois
vulgateenshrinesit in thistranscendance to worshipit as culture,theMarxistvulgate
sets it in the same transcendance only to denounceit thereas ideology.But the two
vulgatesconvergein thesamemagicalthinking.3
Almost all contemporarythought impales itself on false problems and
interminable controversies arisingfromartificial
disjunctions:

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Towardsa Critiqueof thePoliticalEconomyof theSign* 113

1) The subject/objectdisjunction,bridged by the magical concept of "need".


Everything would be fineif the insolubleproblemof "supplyand demand"didn't
spring up in the general system of production/consumption. Free choice or
manipulation?Pseudo-dialectic betweenthetwo? Eternallitanyand falseproblem.
2) The infra/superstructural disjunctionwhich,as we haveseen,surreptitiously covers
overthe insuperabledisjunctionbetweenthe materiality of contentsand the ideality
of consciousnesses-thetwo thuslyseparated poles rejoined throughthe magical
conceptof ideology.Here too everything would be fineif thisdid not leaveeternally
in suspense-to the greatdelightof generationsof intellectuals-theproblemof the
"determininginstance" and the whole resultantacrobatics of "interaction",of
"dialectic",of "relativeautonomy"andof "overdetermination".
3) The exploitation/alienation distinctionwhichechoes thisfalseproblemat thelevel
of politicalanalysis.The endlessdebate of knowingif one foundsthe other,if the
second succeeds the firstas a "more advancedstage of capitalism"-allof whichis
absurdand resultsonce againfromtheartificial divisionbetweensignand commodity,
unanalyzedin theirformand posed as contents(the formerof meaning,thelatterof
production).Whencethe distinctionof an "exploitationof the labor force"froman
"alienationthroughsigns".As if thecommodityor thesystemof materialproduction
didn't"signify"! As if signsand culturewerenot alreadyabstractsocialproductions
at thelevelof thecode and models,a generalizedsystemof theexchangeof values!
Ideology is therefore neitheron one side nor on the other.It is thatsame and
only form which cuts across all thefieldsof social production.It is thecatchingup of
all production(materialor symbolic)in one singleprocessof abstraction, reduction,
generalequivalenceand exploitation.
1) It is because the logic of thecommodityand of politicaleconomyis at the very
heartof the sign,in the abstractequationof signifier and signified,in thedifferential
combinatoryof signs,that these can functionas exchangevalue (the discourseof
communication) and as use value(rationaldecodingand distinctive socialusage).
2) It is because the structure of thesignis at the veryheartof the commodity-form
that the lattercan immediately assumean effectof signification-not "added on" as
"message"or connotation-butbecauseit setsitselfup, throughitsveryform,as total
medium, as system of communicationgoverningall social exchange. Like the
sign-form, the commodityis a code organizingthe exchangeof values. Whether
materialcontentsof productionor immaterialcontentsof signification, it matters
little;the code is the determining factor:the ruleof the playof signifiers, theruleof
the play of exchangevalue. It is the code which,here and there,generalizedin the
systemof politicaleconomy,reducesall symbolicambivalencein orderto base the
"rational"circulationof valuesand theplayof exchangeson the regulated equivalence
of thesevalues.
Here, because of its implicationin the metaphysicsof the subject of
consciousness,the conceptof alienationprovesuseless.Justas themythsof primitive
societiesare not "false"storiesthatconsciousnesses tellone another,but rathera code
of signsthat are exchanged,integrating the group throughthis circulationand not
throughthe weightiness of mythic"contents"on consciousness("belief"),so too the
fundamental code of our societies, which is that of political economy

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114 JeanBaudrillard

(commodity-form and sign-form)does not operate through the alienation of


consciousnessfrom contents: it rationalizesand regulatesexchange; it engenders
communication, but underthelaw of thecode and thecontrolof meaning.
The divisionof labor, the functionaldivisionof the termsof discoursedo not
"mystify"man; theysocialize him and informhis exchangein accordancewithan
abstractgeneralmodel. The veryconcept of the individualis the "product"of this
generalsystemof exchange.And theidea of "totality"accordingto whichthesubject
(either of consciousnessor of History)conceivesof himselfin his ideal reference is
only the effect,the symptom,the projectedshadow of this system.Alienation-a
magicalconceptthroughwhichconsciousnessthinksitselfas itsown ideal content(its
recovered"totality")-isan ideologicalconcept;and ideology,withits superstructural
versionof thecontentsof consciousness,is an alienatedconcept.
Today, consumption-ifthat termhas a meaningotherthantheone givenit by
vulgareconomics-defines preciselythatstageat whichthecommodityis immediately
producedas a sign,as sign-value, and thesigns(culture)as commodities.If,insteadof
dividingthemselves up as specialists-someof "production(economy,infrastructure),
others of ideology(signs, culture)-or as dialecticiansof the boundless totality,4
"researchers",especiallythose up Marx's way, were willingto note the simplest
realities,theywould realize that nothingof what is producedand exchangedin our
day (objects,services, bodies,sex, culture,knowledge, etc.) can any longerbe decoded
strictlyas signor measuredstrictlyas commodity;it would be clear to themthat
everything came out of a generalpoliticaleconomywhose determining instanceis no
longerthe commodity(even reviewedand correctedin itssignifying function,withits
its but
message, connotations, always as if theresubsisteda possible of the
objectivity
product), nor, of course, culture(even in its "critical"version:sign,values, ideas
everywhere commercialized or coopted by thedominantsystem,but alwaystheretoo
as if somethingsubsistedwhose transcendance,simply compromised,could be
located-a shortof sublimeuse value whichthe alternative culturefindsin exchange
value). The object of this political economy,i.e., its simplestelement,its nuclear
element-whichis preciselywhat the commoditywas forMarx-and whichis today
neitherproperlycommoditynorsignbutin whichbothhavebeenabolishedas specific
determinationsbut not as forms,that object is perhaps,simply,the object, the
object-form, upon which converge,in a complex mode which describesthe most
general form of political economy, the use value, the exchange value and the
sign-value.

II. TheMetaphysicsof theSign

The signpresentsitselfwith the same evidenceof meaningvalue as does the


commodityin the "natural"evidenceof itsvalue.These are "the simplestthings"and
the most mysterious.As for semiology,similarlyto politicaleconomy,all it does is
describeitscirculationand structuralfunctioning.5
As shownin one of our earlierstudies,theabstractionof thesystemof exchange
value maintainsitselfonlythroughtheeffectof concreterealityand objectivefinality
of the use value and its needs. Such is the strategiclogic of the commoditywhich

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Towardsa Critiqueof thePoliticalEconomyof theSign* 115

makesthe second terma satelliteof and an alibi forthefirst.The sameappliesto the


logic and strategyof the sign.This hypothesisshattersthe "scientificpostulates"of
semio-linguistics, in particularthat of the arbitrariness of the.sign,as definedby
Saussureand correctedby Benveniste.
The arbitrariness of the sign does not lie in its beingunmotivated, in the fact
that the Sr "table" has no "natural"vocationto signifythe conceptor the reality:
table (since Tischin German,etc.), but in the veryfactof settingup an equivalence
betweensuch a Sr and such a Sd. In thissense, the arbitrariness is as totalin thecase
of the "symbol"6,wheretheanalogybetweenSr and Sd in no way alterstheprinciple
of equivalence.The arbitrariness is in the fundamentalestablishmentof an exact
correlationbetweena "discrete"Sr and an equally discreteSd. In otherwords,the
arbitrariness is in the"discreteness", whichalone setsup theequationalrelationof the
sign,such that:this=thisand willneversignifyanything else. This discreteness is there-
foretheveryprincipleoftherationality ofthesign,whichfunctions as theabstractorand
reducerof all virtualitiesof meaningwhich would not depend on the respective
framing, equivalenceor mirroring effectof a Sr and a Sd. Rationalizationwhichdirects
and reducesthe sign,not with regardto an external,immanent"concretereality"
whichsignswould abstractlyrecoverto express,but in relationto all thatexceedsthe
scheme of equivalenceand signification, and which the sign,in the veryoperation
whichconstitutesit, in thatsuddencrystallization of a Sr and a Sd, reduces,represses,
annihilates.The rationality of thesignis based on theexclusion,theannihilation of all
symbolicambivalencein favorof a fixed and equational structure.The sign is a
discriminator:it structuresby exclusion. Henceforthcrystallizedon thisexclusive
structure, designating itsfixedfield,resigning all therestand assigning theSr and Sd in
a systemof respectivecontrol,the signpresentsitselfas fullvalue,positive,rational,
exchangeable.All virtualities of meaninghave been passedoverthecuttingedgeof the
structure.
This termby termassignment of theSr and theSd can verywellbe complicated
into an equivocal,multivocalrelation,withoutviolatingthelogicof thesign.A Sr can
referto severalSd, or inversely:theprincipleof equivalence,hence of exclusionand
reductionupon which the arbitrariness is based, remainsthe same.Equivalencehas
simplybecomepolyvalencewhilestillradicallyopposingambivalence.The ambiguity
itselfis stillonly in the vacillationof a principlewhich,in themain,remainsin effect.
The fadingof signification does not put into questionthe rationality of the sign,its
realityprinciple.Whilemultipleconnectionsexist betweenSr and Sd which retain
their"discreteness",the code of signification continuesto operateas systemof the
controlof meaning.
Only ambivalence(to whichwe assignthe strongmeaningof ruptureof value,
beneath and beyond the sign-valueand the emergenceof the symbolic)puts into
questionreadability, thefalsetransparence of thesign,itsuse value(rationaldecoding)
and its exchangevalue (the discourseof communication).It puts an end to the
political economyof the sign,and hence to the respectivedefinitions of the Sr and
Sd-concepts bearingthestampof signification-which onlyderivetheirmeaningfrom
the process of signification in the classicalsense,and thuscould not survive,in any
form whatsoever,the shattering of thislogic. In the logic of ambivalenceand of the

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116 JeanBaudrillard

symbolic, we are dealing with a process of resolution of the sign, resolution of the
equation upon whichit articulatesitselfand which,in communicativediscourse,is
neverresolvesd:integrated,opaque, neverelucidated,it establishestherethesame type
of social mysteryas does thatothermedium,the commodity,whichalso restson an
abstractequationof all values.7
The critiqueof politicaleconomy,conductedby Marx at the levelof exchange
value but whose total scope also impliesuse value,is verypreciselythisresolutionof
the commodityand of its implicitequation,a resolutionof the commodityas form
and as code of generalequivalence.It is thissame criticalresolutionwhichmustbe
extendedto thefieldof significationin a Critiqueof thepoliticaleconomyof thesign.

Translatedby Carl R. Lovittand DeniseKlopsch

NOTES

*From: Pour une critique de l'conomie politique du signe. Gallimard, p. 172-185. Copyrightfor
the translation: Telos Press. Permissiongranted.

1. The notion of "pensfe magique" (magical thinking) to which the author alludes here was a
major instrumentof early French ethnology (Ed. note).

2. It should be noted the "alienation" is also one such magical concept, intended to fill in an
artificialdisjunction, this one between the "consciousness" of the subject and his own idealized
content (his "recovered totality").

3. Thus the "critical" denunciation of "artificial needs" and of the "manipulation of needs"
rejoins the unconditional exaltation of consumption in the same mystification.

4. An allusion here to Roger Garaudy, and in particular to the title of one of his works: D'un
rdalismesans rivages. (Ed. note)

5. Two types of analysis have attacked this parallel fetishismof the commodity and of the sign:
the critique of political economy, or theory of rmaterialproduction, inaugurated by Marx, and
critical semiology, or theory of textual production, carried out more recently by the Tel Quel
group.

6. Taken here in the classical semio-linguisticsense, of the symbol as analogical variant of the sign.
On the contrary, we shall always use the symbol (the symbolic, the symbolic exchange) in
opposition and as a radical alternativeto the concept of sign and signification.

7. This resolution of the sign entails the abolition of the Sr and Sd as such, but not the abolition,
toward some mystical nothingness,of the operation of meaning and its material. The symbolic
operatioo of meaning also operates on phonic, visual, gestural (and social) matter, but in
accordance with a completely differentkind of logic.

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